Plural-ply woven fabrics



Nov. 21, 19.39. H. PFERDMENGES PLURAL-PLY WOVEN FABRICS Original Filed July 25, 1936 to moisture.

Patented Nov. 21, 1939 PATENT OFFICE 2,180,770 PLURAL-PLY WOVEN FABRICS Heinrich Pferdmenges, Giesenkirchen, near Rheydt, Germany Original application July 25, 1936, Serial No. 92,687. Divided and this application March 10, 1938, Serial No. 195,173. In Germany August 10, 1935 2 Claims.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 92,687, filed July 25, 1936. This invention relates to the manufacture of plural-ply woven fabric composed of at least 5 two plies incorporated with one another, either in the loom or separately therefrom, so as to form a unitary fabric, at least one of said plies being formed of relatively thin threads woven with a close mesh, and at least one other of relal tively thick threads of wide spacing, that is to say as compared with the mesh of the close mesh ply. An instance of fabric of this kind (hereinafter referred to as the kind specified) is the fabric described in my earlier Patent No. 1,976,- 15 631, which is a double-ply woven fabric specially adapted for the manufacture of open-air, summer or sports wear apparel, the thickness of the threads of the fine or close mesh ply and the spacing of the said threads being such that while 20 light and air can pass through the ply, the fabric, when in position upon the wearers body with the thick widely spaced threads innermost or adjacent the skin, is substantially non-transparent, in this sense that the body cannot be seen 25 through it, at any rate with any measure of.

definition.

It has been found to be a practical difficulty with fabrics of this description that they tend to pucker upon being wetted or otherwise exposed This appears to be due to shrinkage of the thick widely spaced threads of the ply or plies formed of such threads to'an extent exceeding the'limits of possible contraction in the flat, or without ruckling, of the fine mesh ply 35 or plies, that is to say as the effect of co-shrinkage with the thick widely spaced threads coupled with the effect of interlockage or attachment in the fabric of these latter threads with the fine mesh ply, or in cases where little or no shrink- 40 age takes place of the fine mesh ply during the shrinking'of the threads of the wide mesh ply, as the result simply of said interlockage or attachment as between the two plies. Whatever the reason for it may be, the fact remains, that, as

45 stated, puckering of the fine mesh ply tends to take place upon wetting or moistening of the fabric and it is found to be impossible, moreover, to iron out the puckers. The result is that the fabric possessing the puckering tendency is 50 both unattractive in use, especially if composing a garment of such a kind and so worn that the puckered fine mesh ply of the fabric is outermost or exposed to view, and also diflicultly saleable.

55 The object of the present invention is to provide an improvement in'the manufacture of fabrics of the kind specified which will serve to overcome this puckering difficulty in a simple and effective manner.

According to the invention, the manufacture 5 of fabrics of the kind specified is characterised by the step of pre-shrinking the fibres of the threads of the ply or plies formed of thick widely spaced threads, that is to say, at any stage prior to the incorporation of these threads with 0 the fine mesh thin thread ply or plies, the shrinking being efiected upon the fibres, moreover, either prior to spinning or completion ofspinning to the form of a yarn, strand 0r thread, or subsequently thereto.

It is to be understood that the invention is applicable not only to fabrics wherein the threads of the thick thread ply or plies form. in themselves a woven layer consisting of warp and weft threads, but also to fabrics wherein the threads of the said ply or plies are independent threads not interwoven with crossing threads but simply extending acrossthe face of the fine mesh ply or plies and attached thereto, for example, by

binding threads therefrom. In this latter case,

for instance, all the thick threads extending in one direction may pass under the thick threads which cross them in the other direction, the binding threads engaging solely the overlying threads.

'Obviously, however, the fabric may be of any other desired construction and instead of the thick thread ply or plies being composed of single threads suitably spaced from one another, the said ply or plies may be composed of spaced pairs or other combinations of two or more threads each.

As regards fabrics comprising more than two plies, the invention would be applicable for example to a three-ply fabric comprising an external or faceply of thin closely spaced threads, an inner or lining ply also of thin closely spaced threads and an intermediate ply of thick widely spaced threads, the pre-shrinking of the present invention being, as will be understood, of these latter threads.

The pre-shrinking may be effected by any suitable process for the purpose. A preferredprocess, however, consists in treating the fibres (for example, the actual fully spun thread to form the threads of the thick thread ply or plies of the fabric to'be produced) in an untensioned or only slightly tensioned condition with, for example, a solution of caustic soda. In this event, the procedure, as applied to yarn or thread of cotton, is preferably as follows:

The yarn, before warping, is first moistened with water, to enhance its capacity for being wetted by and of taking up the caustic soda solution with which it is subsequently to be treated. The wetted yarn is then placed, without tension or under only slight tension, for about 2 minutes at room. temperature (e. g. 15 C.) in a solution of caustic soda of a concentration of 38 B. Conditions are so adjusted that "when the yarn, previously moistened with water as described, is in position in the caustic soda solution, the latter has, during the two minutes steeping of the moistened yarn, a working or effective concentration of approximately 33 B. The treated yarn at the end of the period stated is then taken out of the shrinking solution and treated with acid to neutralise theresidual alkali carried in it, after which the neutralised yarn is washed and dried If desired, the shrinking by this preferred process may be accelerated by increasing the temperature of the caustic soda solution and correspondingly weakening its concentration. In this connection, it may be remarked that the higher the temperature of the shrinking solution the lower must be the concentration and vice versa. The process, therefore, is not limited to use of some absolute or specific working temperature, but said temperature may within reasonable limits (for example, within the limits of 7 C. to 75 C.) be chosen largely as desired or according to convenience, provided its indicated relationship to'concentration be observed.

It iswell known, of course, to mercerise cotton yarn by treating it with a solution of caustic soda. In the mercerising process, however, the yarn is treated in-tensioned or stretched condition and not, as in the present invention, in an untensioned or susbtantially untensioned condition, the yarn being thereby permitted to shrink freely. Indeed,

in mercerising, the object of which, as is well known, is to impart to the yarn a special glossy appearance, shrinkage is not an object of the treatment at all but is rather to be avoided. The known mercerising process, therefore, is not to be confused with the process forming the subject matter of this invention, which, as far as the step in the process of treating the yarn is concerned, is solely for the purpose of shrinking the yarn, and which in any event, relates, strictly speaking, not to treatment of yarn, per se, but to the manufacture of a particular kind of fabric, with the object as indicated of avoiding a certain practical defect therein.

It may be further remarked in this connection, that is, by way of distinguishing the shrinking process of this invention from the known mercerising process referred to, that whereas in the latter a preferred mercerising temperature is of the order of 7 C., inasmuch as the mercersiing effect is generally at an optimum with the use of that temperature, considerably higher temperatures (for example, up to 20 C.) may be employed and are preferably used, in the pre-shrinking of the yarn according to this invention, since, as has been stated, the use of such higher temperatures tends to increase and accelerate the shrinking action upon the yarn.

The invention may be applied not only to fabrics composed of cotton, but also if desired, to linen and woolen fabrics, the above described shrinking process being substantially the same in all essentials as for the shrinking of cotton fibres.

It is found that by operating in accordance with this invention, the foregoing puckering difficulty is entirely overcome, the fabric remaining entirely free from the tendency it would otherwise possess to pucker and indefinitely preserving in consequence its initial uniform'and attractive appear- 21106.

It is known in the manufacture of woven fabrics for-use with machinery, to render unshrinkable thethreads of the fabric which extend in the direction of tractional pull upon it, by treating them prior to weaving with a halogen, the result being that a fabric is produced after the fulling operation which is fulled only in one direction. It has also been proposed, in the manufacture of fancy dress fabrics woven with two or more distinct weaves, to pre-shrink the weft threads of the fabric. By this means, it is possible to avoid the tendency with such fabric to develop creases in the processes of mercerising, dyeing and finishing. It is further known, in the manufacture of textile fabrics for fiannels, shirtings and the like, 'and also for knitted hosiery and the like, to treat wool fibres with gaseous chlorine, chlorine solution, an acidified solution of hypochlorite or other suitable acidified chlorine compound, and then combine the treated wool fibres with untreated fibres prior to the process of weaving. By this means, the shrinkability of the fabric upon washing may be reduced without its durability being impaired. Again, it is known to employ for woven or knitted fabrics, a mixed yarn consisting of a pre-shrunk fiax or ramie thread twisted with a woolen thread. The present invention, however, is concerned solely with the manufacture of fabrics of the particular kind hereinbefore specified and contemplates, as indicated herein, the pre-shrinking of the fibres of the threads of the ply or piles of the plural-ply fabric which is or are formed of thick widely spaced threads, for the purpose of avoiding the creasing difliculty which is peculiar to fabrics of the kind referred-to.

The fabric referred to is shown in the accompanying drawing wherein:

ment shown in Fig. 1.

The special characteristics of the double texture employed for this purpose are the following: The lower texture l, which bears all the strain of mechanical tension, consists of only a few and very strong and thick warp and weft threads 2, 2 and. 3, 8 which have been shrunk and preferably arranged in pairs and composed chiefly of cotton or linen. These are joined together either in the usual manner, or in form of loops. The upper texture 4, however, is joined as at 5 to the lower texture after the style of the well-known double textures, and consists of very fine threads, chiefly of linen, which are arranged more densely than those of the lower texture, but still leave enough space open in order to ensure that the texture, although practically non-transparent, still enables a sufficient amount of sunlight and air to pass through. These fine threads are not shrunken. It is to be noted that the intermediate spaces 6 of the outer or upper texture are at least equal to half the thickness of the threads 2 and 3 of the inner or lower texture. At points where the thin texture overlie-the threads of the inner texture, some of the warp and weft threads are omitted.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I de-- clare that what I claim. is: s

1. A multiple ply woven fabric, at least one of said plies being of thicker thread and of larger 10 mesh than any other ply, said larger mesh ply gbeing constituted of shrunkenthreads, another .of said plies-being of finer thread and closer mesh and constituted of unshrunken threads, whereby puckering of the finer mesh ply is prevented when said fabric iswetted.

2. The multiple ply woven fabric as claimed in claim 1, in which each individual warp and weft of the large mesh ply consists of a plurality of threads.

' IEINRICH PFERDMENGES. 

